NFL News: Chicago Bears chose to defer a draft pick (Report)

“The NFL’s supplemental draft returned on Tuesday for the first time since 2019, but no players were selected this year, per NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero.

Two prospects — former Jackson State wide receiver Malachi Wideman and former Purdue wide receiver Milton Wright — were available to be picked. Any team that had selected a player in the supplemental draft would have to give up the corresponding pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Both Wideman and Wright are now considered free agents and can sign with any club.”

The last player to be picked in the supplemental draft was safety Jalen Thompson, who was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in 2019. The supplemental draft allows players to enter the NFL who have a change in their NCAA eligibility status after the January deadline to apply for the April draft. Josh Gordon is one of the most famous recent examples of a top name to be picked in the supplemental draft.

The Bears didn’t need to draft a WR Tuesday

The Bears have a pretty good wide receiver room heading into training camp in a couple of weeks now that Darnell Mooney is healthy. They recently selected Tyler Scott in April. It wouldn’t have made sense for the Bears to give up a 2024 draft selection to take Wideman or Wright.

According to CBS Sports, the supplemental draft separates teams into three groups based on the last season’s results. If the Bears had won a bid for a player Tuesday, they would have had to forfeit a 2024 draft pick near the same value as what they had bid for in the supplemental draft:

“The supplemental draft order is different from the regular draft order. Teams are separated into three groups based on the previous season; the first group is non-playoff teams that had six or fewer wins. The second group is non-playoff teams with more than six wins. And the final group is playoff teams.

The order in those groups is determined by a weighted lottery, with the teams with the fewest wins given the best chance to win the earliest picks. Bids for players are submitted blindly by teams with the round that team would want to select a given player.

The team highest in the draft order who submits the earliest-round bid for a player will be awarded that player. When that happens, that club forfeits a pick in the same round of the next year’s regular draft.”

Wideman and Wright didn’t draw enough attention from any of the other 31 teams, so the draft order for 2024 won’t be affected. The Bears could try to sign one of these pass catchers as a UDFA. One would assume someone will pick them up before training camp.

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